Telomerase activation in cervical neoplasia.
OBJECTIVE
To examine the critical point at which telomerase activation occurs in the course of cervical carcinogenesis.


METHODS
Telomeric repeat assay protocol was used to measure telomerase activity in cell samples obtained from 155 Japanese women with various cervical conditions: normal cytology (n = 62), cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) (n = 63), and invasive squamous cell carcinoma (n = 30).


RESULTS
Telomerase activity was detected in five (8%) women with normal cytology, in 26 (41%) patients with CIN (26% of patients with CIN I, 35% with CIN II, and 68% with CIN III), and in 29 (97%) patients with invasive carcinoma. Telomerase activation was significantly more frequent in CIN than in normal cervices (P < .001), and the positive rate in CIN III was significantly higher than that in CIN I (P < .01) and CIN II (P < .05). Furthermore, telomerase activation was significantly more frequent in invasive carcinoma than in CIN III (P < .01).


CONCLUSIONS
Our findings suggest that telomerase activation is a relatively early event in cervical carcinogenesis and correlates well with grade of cervical lesion.
Iwasaka
T
T
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Saga Medical School, Japan. iwasaka@post.saga-med.ac.jp
Zheng
P S
PS
Yokoyama
M
M
Fukuda
K
K
Nakao
Y
Y
Sugimori
H
H
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000201:enzymology; D004789:Enzyme Activation; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D019098:Telomerase / Q000378:metabolism*; D002583:Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / Q000201:enzymology*; D002578:Uterine Cervical Dysplasia / Q000201:enzymology
D019098:Telomerase